Chocolate Crumb Bars

Late Sunday afternoon we were invited to an impromptu barbecue being held by some neighbors. Fun! Wait! We're loading up and getting ready to head out on a 7-day camping trip...I have nothing to bring to this barbecue. "No problem," my neighbor tells me, "Just bring a dessert!" Um, okay, but I have nothing in my refrigerator that isn't going camping because I knew I'd be gone for a week! Well, I ran to my cookbook/notebook and looked for a recipe that would use only things I had and could be ready in one hour and 15 minutes or less. I stumbled across a recipe for Chocolate Crumb Bars and, in so doing, lucked out!

This recipe is one of those Very Best Baking recipes that come to me via email from Nestle. If I see a recipe that piques my interest, I print it out and put it in my notebook to be made at a later date. Obviously, I kept overlooking this one because I printed it out on 4/28/2005 and have never tried it!

Chocolate Crumb Bars
www.verybestbaking.com

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips , divided
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (I've started stocking this in my pantry-thank goodness!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional (obviously, I left these out)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

BEAT butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 2 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared baking pan; reserve remaining mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

COMBINE 1 cup chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a small, heavy-duty saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Spread over hot crust.

STIR nuts and remaining chocolate chips into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Cut and serve like brownies.

Well, I whipped them up quickly and had them at the neighbors right on time. We had a terrific time and it was fun start to our vacation. Plus, I discovered a new recipe that I liked! A win-win all around.